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As one of the very few US military veterans who are candidates for the NC legislature in 2008, Jan MacKay understands how difficult it can be to adjust from military service to civilian life. Jan is a veteran of four years of active duty of US Navy military service (dental) during the Viet Nam era, serving stateside, and received an honorable discharge.
Jan recalls working on the teeth of returning American POW’s, and believes she may have worked on Navy pilots James Stockdale (former VP running mate of Ross Perot) and John McCain immediately after their release in 1973. Jan says “The captain of the dental clinic gave me the honors of working on them. Those guys didn’t have a toothbrush, so their teeth were a mess. One of them seemed to do a bit better than the others. The thing I remember the most was asking him, (which one it was, I do not recall) how did you manage to keep your teeth relatively clean”. “Well, it wasn’t easy” was the reply. “I was in a hole in the ground, and the best I could do was find a small piece of wood, bamboo, or root, and get the end worn down so it would be the closest thing to a brush that it could possibly be. If possible, I’d find a root and use it like floss.”
Jan is a 12th generation American, from an extremely patriotic family with a long history of military service going back to the very first war in the colonies, long before the United States declared it’s indepedence from England. Jans’ mother was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), service attributed to Adam Fairbanks. Jans’ father was a boson’s mate in the Navy, in the Pacific during WWII. He saw constant and terrible combat, and was wounded. The ships he was on always seemed to get damaged or sunk. His last duty vessel was the USS Revenge, a minesweeper, which was the first ship into Tokyo harbor, leading the way for the fleet of ships, including the USS Missouri.
At the state level, there are not many veterans benefits in North Carolina as compared to some states. A discussion of a veterans tuition in state-funded colleges in NC should be considered. In many states, if your home state was credited with your service during wartime, you are eligible for tuition assistance, which is often free. North Carolina should consider a similar program. Veterans have earned it. This should not be considered a handout. This should be a priority before providing assistance to those who have done nothing to earn it. For example, why should non-citizens be eligible for tuition assitance programs if our own veterans are not? Yet, tuition assistance for non-citizens is being considered. If anyone is going to get any assistance, give it to the veterans who would get similar tuition assistance from some other states.
Jan spent many hours one day, waiting to be seen at the VA Medical Center in Durham. While she was there, there was an older veteran who said he had gone to the VAMC for a simple procedure and now the doctors are saying they need to amputate his leg due to a staff infection as a result of being a patient there. A retired veteran was put on the waiting list at Durham VAMC to get a primary care physician. After a year, he has still not been seen by a doctor.
The VA estimates that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Nearly 400,000 experience homelessness over the course of a year. One out of every three homeless men who is sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities is a veteran. This is a national tragedy, and the federal government seems content to sit on their hands. In Wake County, this year, there was a one day program to help veterans. Repeat: One day. This was nothing but a feel good about ourselves day sponsored by those departments which could actually make a difference if they tried harder. For an effort like this to succeed in bringing about permanent change it must be more than one day!
Stats from the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans:
23% of homeless population are veterans
33% of male homeless population are veterans
47% Vietnam Era
17% post Vietnam
15% pre Vietnam
67% served three or more years
33% stationed in war zone
25% have used VA Homeless Services
85% completed high school/GED compared to 56% of non-veterans
89% received Honorable Discharge
79% reside in central cities
16% reside in suburban areas
5% reside in rural areas
76% experience alcohol, drug, or mental health problems
46% white males compared to 34% non-veterans
46% age 45 or older compared to 20% non-veterans
Sometimes, obtaining veterans benefits from federal programs, such as Veterans Administration, now called Department of Veterans Affairs, can be a major challenge. You should be contacting your US House representative and your US Senator for their assistance in getting the VA to do the job they are obligated to do. If Jan MacKay is elected to the state senate, she will have no federal powers. However, Jan will do her best to establish the best possible communications between the NC state legislature and the US Congress, and will be an advocate for better treatment of veterans, including homeless veterans.
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